How One Woman Won a Marathon and Barely Broke a Sweat

To observers at the finish line, Rosie Ruiz must have seemed like the fittest athlete ever to run the Boston Marathon. On this day, April 21, in 1980, the 26-year-old New Yorker finished first among the marathon’s women runners in near-record time — just over two and a half hours. Even more impressive: When officials crowned her the winner, she was barely sweating, according to Mass Moments, the Massachusetts Foundation for the Humanities’ online history almanac. Her hair was still perfectly styled, and her face was hardly flushed after the 26-mile race.

Ruiz made winning a marathon look easy. And it was, using her signature strategy: Don’t run the whole thing.

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Officials were dubious, however, partly because of her unsweaty nonchalance and partly because no one — neither competitors nor spectators — could remember having seen her during the first 25 miles. When witnesses came forward a few days later to say they’d seen her run onto the course from the sidelines just a mile from the finish line, her medal was revoked.

Ruiz’s own admissions might have given her away in any case: She acknowledged that she’d only started training 18 months earlier, by running around Central Park. And she’d only ever competed in one other marathon: the New York Marathon, where she’d had a notably slower (although still impressive) time.

Legendary runner Kathrine Switzer — the first woman ever to officially compete in the Boston Marathon — was instantly suspicious when she spoke to Ruiz after the race, which she was covering that day as a television commentator. Switzer asked what Ruiz’s intervals had been, per TIME; Ruiz replied, “What’s an interval?”

The rule that no women shall run in the Boston Athletic Association (BAA) Marathon is being put to a very real test in this photo. Trainer Jack Semple (in street clothes) enters the field of runners to try to pull Kathy Switzer (261) out of the race. Male runners move in to form protective curtain around the female track hopeful, until the protesting trainer is finally wedged out of the race, and Switzer is allowed to finish the marathon.

Bettmann—Corbis

Ambrose Burfoot of Wesleyan University crosses the finish line of the 72nd running of the Boston Marathon, in 1968.

Bettmann—Corbis

Amby Burfoot, right, and Jock Semple at the finish line of the Boston Marathon, April 19, 1968.

Joe Dennehy—The Boston Globe/Getty Images)

Kathy Switzer runs in the Boston Marathon on April 19, 1971.

Frank O'Brien—The Boston Globe/ Getty Images)

Kathy Switzer Miller running the Boston Marathon on April 17, 1972.

Frank O'Brien—The Boston Globe/Getty Images

Bill Rodgers, of Melrose, Mass., crosses the finish line to win the Boston Marathon in Boston on April 17, 1978. Rodgers finished with an unofficial time of two hours, 10 minutes and 13 seconds. This was Rodgers' second marathon win.

AP Photo

Joan Benoit, the women's winner of the Boston Marathon, April 16, 1979.

Janet Knott—The Boston Globe/Getty Images

Patti (Lyons) Catalano in the Boston Marathon in 1981.

Bill Brett—The Boston Globe/Getty Images

Alberto Salazar looks over his shoulder to check on Dick Beardsley, rear, as they neared the finish line April 19, 1982 in the 86th annual Boston Marathon. Salazar went on to win the 26-mile, 385-yard distance in 2:08.51. Beardsley followed by two seconds.

AP Photo

The pack at the start of the 1983 race in Hopkinton. Grey Meyer, the eventual winner, led wearing number 3. The top five finishers were all Americans: Ron Tabb was second, Benji Durden, third, Ed Mendoza, fourth and Chris Bunyan finished fifth.

David L Ryan—The Boston Globe/Getty Images

Joan Benoit crosses the finish line Apr. 18, 1983 in Boston to win the women's division of the Boston Marathon in 2:22:42, shattering the world women's marathon mark by nearly three minutes.

AP Photo

Dave Reinhart falls for a second time just short of the finish line of the Boston Marathon, 1983. Reinhart was able to stand and cross the finish line ahead of record setter Joan Benoit, who finished with a time of 2 hours 22 minutes 42 seconds.

Mike F. Kullen—AP Photo

Greg Meyer raises his arms in victory as Boston Mayor Kevin White places laurel wreath on his head on Monday, April 18, 1983 in Boston.

AP Photo

An unidentified man, attired in business suit and black hat, jumped into the Boston Marathon pack Monday, April 17, 1984.

AP Photo

John A. Kelley, 78, smiles as he approaches the finish line at the 90th running of the Boston Marathon, April 21, 1986. Kelley's finish marked his 55th Boston Marathon.

Mike Kullen—AP Photo

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More deception was revealed when New York Marathon officials looked into Ruiz’s 24th-place finish in that race and discovered that she had used a similar strategy to qualify for the Boston Marathon — by taking the subway instead of running most of the course. According to the New York Daily News, Ruiz explained the fact that she was wearing a marathon number by telling fellow subway riders that she had twisted her ankle and just wanted to see the end of the race.

She may not have had much training as a distance runner, but she seemed to have a great deal of practice in bending the truth. Even her application for the New York Marathon was based on a lie: An Associated Press story reveals that she submitted the form after the deadline had passed, but then got “special dispensation” by claiming she had a fatal brain tumor.

And while Ruiz never faced criminal consequences for faking her race finishes, she later ran afoul of the law for unrelated reasons. In 1982, she was charged with stealing $60,000 from the realty company she worked for, and in 1983 she was arrested for selling two kilos of cocaine to an undercover detective, per the AP.

Meanwhile, Boston Marathon organizers have made it harder to follow in Ruiz’s fraudulent footsteps. An unscrupulous couple who finished first in the senior category of the 1997 marathon were quickly found out, despite having registered at the course’s computer checkpoints, because they failed to appear on video shot at secret locations.

Read more about the history of the Boston Marathon, here in the TIME archives: A Long Running Show